H. M. Brock's illustrations for Great Expectations

Henry Matthew Brock (1875-1960), the son of a specialist reader in oriental languages for Cambridge University Press, was the brother of the better-known artist Charles Edward Brock (1870-1938), with whom he shared a studio. Like his brother, he contributed to Punch, but unlike Charles Edward, who painted oils and was elected a member of the British Institution, the younger Brock worked in advertising. In addition to illustrating Great Expectations, he did four color plates for 1935 A Christmas Carol (source), and he was one of seven artists who contributed illustrations to Conan Doyl's His Last Bow (1909; source).

According to Paul Schlicke, "In 1901-3 the Gresham Publishing Company [34 Southampton Street, The Strand, London] . . . produced an incomplete edition, the Imperial Edition in sixteen volumes, including Gissing's Charles Dickens, A Critical Study and 'topographical illustrations' by Kitton" (p. 207). H. M. Brock's eight illustrations for Great Expectations range from late Victorian through Impressionistic in style, each containing a quotation within the frame to indicate the precise moment illustrated. The pictorial/narrative sequence emphasizes the centrality of Pip; of the other characters depicted, only Estella and Jaggers appear more than once.